Take a Line

Review also includes:

Take a Square, 978-1910277072

Take a Triangle, 978-1910277089

Take a Circle, 978-1910277058

Books for the under fives about every day experiences and concepts are available in many formats and styles.   The traditional kind, for example Shirley Hughes’ All Shapes and Sizes and Allan and Janet Ahlberg’s The Baby’s Catalogue, are loved for their distinctive art work and will always deserve a place in the nursery school and home collection.  But these four books, in the new Take a Shape series, are typical of the trend towards using graphic images.  The pictures, on well designed pages using bold colours, are stylised but this author illustrator knows how to appeal to young learners.   All four books are designed to draw attention to the shapes children see every day and help them think about them in new ways: Take a Line shows  a dog lead, a skipping rope and  an aeroplane’s vapour trail ; Take a Square includes building bricks, paving stones and boxes; Take a Triangle pictures kites, ship sails and tents and Take a Circle – plates,  balls and bubbles. Lively pictures and a written text peppered with questions make the books hugely interactive and the playful kitten and inquisitive Dachshund puppy add an endearing dollop of humour.